ICC Intercontinental Cup and Shield

NAMIBIA v BERMUDA Bermuda chose to bat on what looked a good batting pitch, although they must have wondered at that when Chris Foggo was struck on the side of the head by the first ball of the match from Louis Klazinga. Nevertheless, Foggo and Fiqre Crockwell opened strongly with a stand of 57 before Crockwell failed to get to the pitch of a ball outside his off stump and edged it to the slips. David Hemp and Foggo batted through to lunch without any alarms but, after the interval, Foggo failed to deal with a ball from Tobias Verwey that spun off a length and lifted awkwardly; he could only parry it to the slips. Such balls seemed the exception, however, and Hemp and Steven Outerbridge remained together until tea to take the score to 126 for two. In the evening session, Hemp confidently hit Verwey for a huge six and then reached his half-century with a powerful straight drive off Klazinga. The next ball, Klazinga angled across Hemp and had him caught in the slips. From then on Bermuda’s innings fell apart as batsman after batsman tried to hit at everything. Irresponsible shot selection meant that the visitors went from 147 for two to 214 all out, Verwey being the main beneficiary, picking up four more wickets with his leg breaks. Only Irving Romaine showed much idea and it was largely due to him that Bermuda passed the two hundred mark. Namibia batted out what could have been a difficult nine overs, but Bermuda’s opening bowlers were rarely on target. The second day saw a remarkable display of batting by Raymond van Schoor and Ewald Steenkamp. Not out overnight, they put on 374 for the first wicket and Bermuda simply had no answer as they hit the bad balls to the boundary and ran aggressively between the wickets, taking short singles and pushing ones into twos. Bermuda’s bowlers were unable to find consistent line and length and the visitors suffered by having only one spin bowler in the side. In addition, Steenkamp was dropped twice and Bermuda’s fielding worsened as the day progressed. Namibia added 77 in the first 15 overs and then scored runs almost at will until, in the 85th over of the innings, van Schoor fell to Foggo, the seventh bowler tried. Steenkamp went three overs later and, in the evening session, Bermuda found new life, taking six wickets for 118 runs. Unfortunately, they were unable to counter Craig Williams who ended the day on 70 not out, with Namibia 277 runs ahead. Bermuda’s bowlers were unable to repeat the efforts of the previous evening as Namibia hit 92 runs in 40 minutes off 59 balls. When Stefan Kelly bowled Verwey for 35, made at a strike rate of 125.0, Namibia declared, leaving Williams undefeated on 110, made at a strike rate of 148.6, with three sixes and nine fours. Facing a deficit of 369 runs, Bermuda needed to bat sensibly and survive as long as possible into the fourth day. Instead, they proceeded to score at nearly four runs an over and made too many errors in the process. Foggo was perhaps unlucky with the leg-before decision which led to the loss of Bermuda’s first wicket and Crockwell was unable to take his bat out of the way in time to a rising ball from Klazinga; the result was a catch to the wicketkeeper. Hemp and Outerbridge added 54 for the third wicket, but the partnership ended prematurely when Outerbridge mistimed a ball from Verwey and gave a catch to van Schoor at mid on. Klazinga produced two superb yorkers which were too good for Romaine and Malachi Jones. Hemp hit the ball to long on and called for the easy single, only to see Jekon Edness amble rather than run down the pitch to be easily beaten by a direct hit to the stumps from Gerrie Snyman. Breaks for rain and a partnership of 65 for the seventh wicket between Hemp and Trott prolonged the proceedings, but once Hemp was dismissed the end came within seven overs. Well though Namibia played, the evidence was that, Hemp excepted, Bermuda’s cricketers were ill-equipped for four-day cricket and that competing in the Intercontinental Shield required an approach to the game which was alien to most of them. 232 ICC Intercontinental Shield 2009-10